Crucified Twice

I was sitting in my Sunday evening bible study class, a class that I truly enjoy, when the leader of the bible study made a fairly innocuous statement that has settled around my shoulders like a weight.  The topic had shifted, slightly, from our discussion of Grace to the predominant worldview of the day, when  Randy, our Sunday night teacher made a comparison between the way that the world views Christ now, and the way that the world viewed him nearly two-thousand years ago.  As soon as the statement was out of his mouth, I was certain of the truth it contained and startled at the revelation that it brought: we have crucified Christ twice!

Think back to the sentiment of the people immediately prior to the crucifixion.  They had finally caught him; this man who had the audacity to name himself the son of God was now in the hands of the government and the church.  Finally, they would see justice done.  This man had shaken the very foundation of their comfortable system of beliefs.  He had challenged long-standing traditions.  He dared to call the religious leaders of the day “hypocrites,” and even “vipers.”  Finally, this man who obviously cast out devils by the prince of devils would be punished for his crimes.  All this they said of a man who would walk silently to the cross with a prayer of forgiveness on his lips. 

Now, two-thousand years later, we find ourselves surrounded by an angry mob, fists clenched in fury, voices raised in a defiant cry of “Crucify him!”  We have come full circle to a place where the teachings of Christ interfere with, rather than inform, the decisions of the people.  People shout down anyone that dares to speak the name of Jesus aloud, and those who follow him, much like Peter, follow “afar off.”  The church, in many instances, has wandered away, inadvertently causing much of the world’s attitude; in an attempt to increase membership, appeal to a particular demographic, or to improve Sunday morning turn-out, the church has made itself look more like the world that Christ came to save.  We either turn Christ’s message of love into a sinful free-for-all where anything goes (as long as we show up for church on Sunday), or we twist that message into one of hate where, rather than loving the sinner while hating the sin, we appear to hate everything equally. 

We have crucified him twice, and no one seems to realize.  We have crucified him twice, once on a tree, and once on the cross of popular opinion.  We have crucified him twice, and still he stands, arms outstretched, all at once inviting us into a relationship with him and holding back the wrath of the father that we so rightly deserve.  We have crucified him twice, and still he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”